Wolf Quest: Rewritten
by Aleuna
Summary: For those who found Balto's first sequel to be slightly under your expectations, although I liked it just fine, I have written something that should be found as more appealing. I have kept the main style and events, and added elements to it to make it mor


Balto ran across a vast sheet of ice, pursued by a great black raven with blood red eyes. The ice around him was cracking, and he had to slip frantically around to avoid being crushed by falling chunks. As another iceburg fell, the ground crumbled and buckled beneath Balto, tossing him a few feet above the ground. He splashed down on top of an ice floe, catching his breath, which was visible in the frigid air. The raven cawed behind him, so he began running again, leaping over the gaps between the ice floes. He looked back, sure he had lost the raven, but it was closer than ever, and when Balto turned his head back, he was staring right at a pack of wolves that had mysteriously appeared, and were now lying in wait, teeth bared, eyes glowing. He looked back at the raven, and again foward at the wolves. He was hopelessly trapped. The raven plunged. The wolves pounced. Balto vanished before any of them reached him, for a voice was awakening him.

"Balto! Balto, wake up!"

"Wha- What?"

Balto was being shaken awake by Jenna; It took him a moment to remember that he was in her house.

"Come on Balto, I've been trying to wake you for hours. You want to sleep all day or do you want to see the new puppies?"

She gestured to a basket, and in it were six tiny pups. Three were vibrant burgundy with markings just like their mother. One was darker red, like the others but without white around her eyes. The last two had identical facial markings, with faces like Jenna's except for a bridgeline running down their muzzles, like Balto. One of them was a caramel colored female, and the other was male, a rusty brown color.

"Wow, Jenna. They're little miracles, all of them. Just like you."

"You too. So, have you been having that dream again?"

"Yeah. It's kind of strange that I've been having that dream every night ever since you told me that you were going to have pups. Almost two months is a long time to see yourself getting chased by ravens."

"You've told me that the dream has ravens, wolves, foxes, wolverines, bears, and caribou, right?"

"That's right."

"Those animals are all on the totem pole outside of town, which has been there for a little more than two months. I'm starting to think that this is all connected. And one more thing. I don't think that we should tell them that they are part wolf, at least not until the situation absolutely requires it." Seeing Balto's concerned face, she quickly added, "I know what I'm doing. Trust me."

Balto looked back at Jenna and the pups before leaving to tell his friends the good news. He visited the boiler room, and sure enough, there were Nikki, Kaltag, and Star, rattling off their stories as usual. Nikki was sitting slightly farther away from Kaltag and Star, and instead with a female husky named Iyla and his two young sons, Kirby and Ralph. Kaltag was, apparantly, telling a long winded tale, all the while trying to keep Star from butting in.

"I have cousins in six different countries- Star, be quiet! There are three in Russia, one in Nor- Stop it, Star! Norway, two in Finland- Star, if you don't stop talking, I'm gonna beat you like a cheap drum! One in Canada, three at the North Pole, and five, count'em, five, all the way down in- I have had it with you Star! Antarctica!"

"I'm so sorry Kaltag, just a little excited that's all, I didn't mean to- Okay, I'll stop talking."

"Hi guys! Nikki, Kaltag, Star, Iyla!"

"Oh, hey Balto! How's Jenna?"

"That's what I came to tell you about, Star. Jenna just had them last night. There are six! Speaking of that, how's your niece doing?"

"Oh, Dusty's great, and so are Misty and Kuma. My brother's a great dad to all three of them."

"Glad to hear it. So Nikki, Kirby and Ralph are coming along well?"

"Both are excellent there, but between me and yous, Ralphy's a bit of a dope."

"Dad! I heard that!"

"Well, it's true, Ralphy-boy!"

"Very funny, Kirby!"

"Hey, for three months old, they're not that bad. Good luck to yous Balto! The first month's the hardest!"

"Thanks Nikki!"

Balto didn't have time to stay long. He was on one more sled run for the season today before the snow melted, and after going back to say one last goodbye to Jenna, was on his way.

The run lasted longer than Balto expected. It was almost two weeks long, but during the trip, Jenna would go to certain checkpoints so that she and Balto could keep in touch at a couple of intervals. They had arrived at the names for the pups this way, which were Dingo, Saba, and Lena, after Jenna's mother, father, and sister, Aleu and Kodi, after the Aleutian Islands and the Kodiak Islands, and Kiro, after Balto's father.

And when he did return, he was greeted as a hero. A banner hung across the main street, reading, "Welcome Back Balto: Hero of Nome". This was no surprise. It happened every time he returned from somewhere. His pups, however were not used to it. Their curiosity for what he had done that made him so special resulted in Balto spending hours recapping his adventure to them, and what happened afterwards, like him finally befriending Steele. They all enjoyed his fascinating stories, Aleu, Kodi, and Kiro most of all. Balto also enjoyed taking them on adventures, out in some of the places that he passed on his journey. They got to see the once frozen lake, and the former ice cave, and at the lake, Aleu swore that she saw the ghost of the bear that Balto fought and drowned under the frigid water.

"Dad, I know what I saw! It was black, blue, and yellow, but it was also see-through! It was walking on the water, and it turned its head and growled at me!" She protested, but this sighting was met with utter disbelief from her siblings, Kodi especially.

"Sometimes, I think that Dad has to stop telling you these stories. They're making you see things. It was probably just a shadow, or some funny colored fog. There are no ghosts or spirits, or anything like that."

"Then what about the white wolf? She was a spirit. Dad said so!"

"Aleu, come on. We're talking about a guy who got Mom with a northern lights trick and some fancy sledding."

"Just wait a couple months. You'll think very differently when you're older. But you'll still always be my baby brother."

"By twenty minutes. Twenty measly minutes!"

Kodi hated being called the younger sibling by Aleu. He was the second oldest but she still treated him like a baby. She considered him a tantrum-throwing loser sometimes because he gets angry a lot and is not the best runner. No matter what he said, he did look up to Balto. He considered him his greatest hero.

The pups were reaching a month and a half, and would be eight weeks old soon. Dingo and Kodi had recently met Kirby, Ralph, and Dusty, and were becoming close friends, even though their ages were several weeks apart. Saba, the youngest and the shyest, prefered to stay near Kiro and her sister, Lena. Kiro often acted like a protective father around his youngest sister, and the two were very well bonded. She also spent a lot of time with Dingo, and while talking to him, Kiro, and Lena, she once said,

"Aleu and Kodi are nice once you get to know them, but there's something about them that scares me."

For being the youngest, Saba was teased a lot by most of her family and even some of the neighbors in town. She felt that Dingo and Kiro were the only ones who understood her, and her drive to prove to her siblings that she can amount to something.

Lena was never hesitant to do anything. She had a strong mind and could figure things out for herself. Brimming with courage, and great patience if not a short temper at times, she was often considered the "popular girl" around town. She was also known for her unique markings that made her stand alone from her siblings, and the subtle beauty that seemed to lie in her dark red face and copper colored eyes.

Kiro and Dingo were very close as brothers. They had mirror personalities despite their opposite appearances: Dingo's near perfect likeness to his mother, and Kiro's wolfish looks, markings identical to Aleu's, and rusty brown fur. They both had a bit of a stormy relationship with their two oldest siblings, and both shared a special connection with Saba. They were patient, quiet, considerate and brave. They hoped that they would get adopted together when the time came, because as brothers, they were the closest thing to best friends. Them saying this to Balto reminded him that they would be adopted in two days.

On the night before his final full day with his pups, Balto slept on Jenna's porch. After eight weeks of not having the dream, it had returned.

Balto was being relentlessly pursued by the raven once more, and looked back cautiously, seeing how far he was ahead, which wasn't a lot. He didn't see the fox sitting in front of him, and he whipped his head around when he finally noticed the sly-looking vixen blocking his path, and when he turned around, a ring of animals was forming around him: the fox, three wolverines, a bear, a herd of caribou, a pack of wolves, and, leading the group, was the raven, who cawed a signal that Balto was sure meant "Attack!" Every animal dove towards him, but Balto saw them sinking lower and realized that he was rising above the ground, atop the totem pole. He jumped down to see that his attackers had vanished, and circled the totem pole, reciting the animals that the carvings represented.

"Raven, fox, wolverine, bear, caribou, wolf."

As he quietly whispered "wolf," a familiar white lupine appeared, howled, and vanished, as Balto woke. Jenna and the pups were gone. _They must have gone down to the beach,_ he thought, and started off in that direction. Sure enough, when he got down to the beach, there were Jenna and his pups, waiting for him.

"Good morning Balto. Dreaming again?"

"Yeah. Have you seen Boris around? I haven't visited him ever since I moved in with you."

"I was just talking to him. He's on the boat right now."

"Thanks. Just give me a few moments to catch up with him. I'll be right back."

Jenna nodded and let Balto go off to meet Boris, and he was back in a few minutes.

"So Jenna, why don't we show them around the boat later, and then come back here to watch the First Day of Summer fireworks?"

"It's all right with me. Look, I know you don't want to think about it yet, but they are getting adopted tomorrow after all. Where and when should we meet tomorrow?"

"How about at noon, and right between the hospital and the dry goods store? There should be a box or a crate around there somewhere."

"Alright. Don't worry about it Balto. They'll still live very nearby. If we want to, we could visit them every day!"

"You're right. Well, we got a great day ahead of us, so let's stop talking so we can get going and enjoy every minute of it."

The rest of the day sped by, and Balto saw every event, from playing on the beach to exploring the boat to the colorful fireworks, in a dizzying blur. Before he knew it, it was night, and then morning again. As promised, he met Jenna and the pups at noon between the hospital and the dry goods store. He couldn't help but smile when he saw what crate was being used. He also noticed Rosy sitting on the sidewalk, slowly swinging her sandalled feet. The now nine-year-old hugged Jenna with a tearful smile and gently petted Balto.

"Hi Balto. Mom and Dad said that I could come down here with you and Jenna. I already talked to a lot of kids I know, and they'd be glad to adopt your puppies."

Many people that Balto recognized passed by that day, all of them nice and accepting of the pups, no matter how they looked. It was their parents that posed the problem. Many requests to adopt Aleu or Kiro were reacted to by expressions of horror. One group of children who walked away with Dingo, Saba, and Kodi overheard their parents talking to each other about "the foolishness of owners who think that putting wolfdog pups up for adoption is okay." To them, the fact that they were descended from Balto didn't matter. By the end of the day, Aleu and Kiro were still in the crate. Little did they, Jenna, or even Balto know, this was just the beginning of their greatest adventure.


End file.
